Scenes shot at the "World of Tomorrow."


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Wathen, R.W.
Sponsor: N/A
Audio/Visual: Si, C
Keywords: World's Fairs: New York, 1939-40; Amateur films

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: Tsubasa1 - - June 9, 2011
Subject: The giggle of History
It's interesting to see the Polish exhibit, with the statue of King Jagiełło (the one who defeated the Teutonic Knights, the bad German knights wearing black crosses), the statue that ended up in Central Park, because in 1939 Germany invaded Poland...

Also, imagine that large Soviet exhibit, with red stars and all that, standing in the middle of New York ten years later. MacCarthy would have a heart attack ;p

Cheers from Poland!

Reviewer: ridetheory - - November 12, 2010
Subject: Why Steadycams Were Invented.
The R.W. Wathen reels of the New York World's Fair are of a very interesting subject, but they're amateurish in the worst sense of the word. While the 18 Medicus reels of the same subject may be too much for some viewers to take in (at 6 hours, you have to be a bit of a World's Fair nut to wade through 'em all) they're at least carefully shot. Wathen covers many of the same subjects, but the camera pans too quickly, almost every shot is shaky, and the photographer constantly stops and starts again on the same subject from nearly the same angle. That last bit reminds me very much of the way my grandfather shot 8mm family films just a few seconds at a time to conserve film -- "*WHIRR* stop *WHIRR* stop *WHIRR*" -- without realizing he was creating jump shots which were difficult to watch.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - December 5, 2005
Subject: Same old.. Same Old..
Wathen pretty much covers the same ground as he did with Part I of this collection here, revisiting a lot of the exhibits weve already seen, but there are some shots of pavilions we havent seen before, namely China and Canada, and one totally spectacular shot of the parking lot of the fair.. EVERY CAR IS THE SAME!! Aside from that, more garden shots, more shots of the Waltens walking around, and so on. Actually, its not boring, the fair is always spectacular. One thing thats interesting, one thing proves my point exactly, I guess Wathen, on this reel, returns to the fair during the closing days, and guess what? Theres hardly anyone there! So my theory about more people attending the fair during the beginning then in the end is correct.

Shotlist

World's Fairs (New York, 1939) Home movies Amateur movies Animals Zoos Fountains Illumination Lighting Fountains (lighted) New York City (history and culture) Futurism Pavilions
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